Dental Division, Setthathirath Hospital, Vientiane, Lao PDR.
Faculty of Dentistry, University of Health Sciences, Vientiane, Lao PDR.
PLoS One. 2019 Jan 25;14(1):e0211257. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211257. eCollection 2019.
Dental caries is considered a major health problem among schoolchildren in Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). According to Health Belief Model (HBM)-based research, children's oral health behavior can be determined by their guardians' beliefs. This study aimed to describe children's oral health behavior and its association with childhood dental caries, as well as to assess associations between children's tooth-brushing behavior and guardians' beliefs in an urban area of Lao PDR, using HBM. Data were collected from ten primary schools in the Sisattanak district, the Vientiane capital, between 2013 and 2014. Ten dentists with the help of dental hygienists and schoolteachers conducted dental health check-ups at the schools that diagnosed dental caries based on visual inspection. They also conducted a questionnaire-based survey with the schoolchildren's guardians to collect data including socio-economic and demographic information, their children's oral health behavior, and guardians' beliefs derived from HBM, including perceived susceptibility to and perceived severity of child dental caries, perceived benefit of and perceived barrier to child's tooth brushing, and self-efficacy in making their children brush their teeth twice daily. A mixed-effects logistic regression model assessed the association between dental caries and children's oral health behavior and between children's tooth-brushing behavior and guardians' beliefs. Data from 1161 of 1304 (89.0%) children registered at the schools were used. The prevalence of dental caries was 82%. Children who brushed their teeth ≥ twice/day were significantly less likely to have dental caries than those brushing once or seldom (OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.45 to 0.91). The number of children who brushed twice daily also significantly increased with the increased level of guardians' self-efficacy (OR: 2.14, 95% CI: 1.91 to 2.41). In conclusion, childhood dental caries was associated with daily tooth brushing. Children's tooth-brushing behavior was associated with guardians' self-efficacy in making their children brush twice daily.
在老挝人民民主共和国（老挝），儿童龋齿被认为是一个主要的健康问题。根据健康信念模型（HBM）研究，儿童的口腔健康行为可以由其监护人的信念决定。本研究旨在描述儿童的口腔健康行为及其与儿童龋齿的关系，并评估 HBM 在中国老挝万象市 Sisattanak 区的城市地区儿童刷牙行为与监护人信念之间的关系。数据于 2013 年至 2014 年期间从十所小学收集。十名牙医在牙科保健员和教师的协助下在学校进行口腔健康检查，根据肉眼检查诊断龋齿。他们还与学校儿童的监护人进行了基于问卷的调查，以收集包括社会经济和人口统计学信息、儿童口腔健康行为以及 HBM 衍生的监护人信念在内的数据，包括对儿童龋齿的易感性和严重性的感知、对儿童刷牙的益处和障碍的感知，以及使子女每天刷牙两次的自我效能感。混合效应逻辑回归模型评估了龋齿与儿童口腔健康行为之间的关系，以及儿童刷牙行为与监护人信念之间的关系。使用了注册在学校的 1304 名儿童中的 1161 名（89.0%）的数据。龋齿的患病率为 82%。每天刷牙≥两次的儿童患龋齿的可能性明显低于每天刷牙一次或很少刷牙的儿童（OR：0.64，95%CI：0.45 至 0.91）。每天刷牙两次的儿童人数也随着监护人自我效能感的提高而显著增加（OR：2.14，95%CI：1.91 至 2.41）。总之，儿童龋齿与每天刷牙有关。儿童的刷牙行为与监护人使子女每天刷牙两次的自我效能感有关。
